"It's a very simple game. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Sometimes it rains."
(Bull Durham)

Sunday, July 30, 2017

Big Dogs Bark As Bucs Salvage One In SD 7-1

Cutch happened in the first, solo-shotting Clayton Richard to give the Bucs an early lead. Cole Train liked it and tossed a clean frame (two first innings in a row without a run, whoa!). The Bucs stranded a Joey O second inning leadoff knock. Cole jacked up his pitch count by walking a pair (and was saved from a third when Austin Hedges swung at a 3-2 slider in the dirt) but escaped unmarked. Gerrit opened the third with a knock; after a K, he was picked off. The Padres apologized by misplaying J-Hay's grounder. Josh came up gimpy after jamming his foot into the bag and Mad Max ran for him. Andrew walked and Freeser whiffed. The Friars dropped a couple of soft singles, again drawing no blood. Both teams were quiet in the fourth. Pittsburgh got a two-out single in the fifth. The Bucs won a challenge when Richard was ruled safe on an infield bleeder. It was a timely decision to toss the flag as it was followed by a two-bagger that ended up harmless (it even looked harmless off the bat, but Joey O did the cha-cha chasing the bloop).

Cole Train chugged today (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

A walk to Cutch started Richard down a slippery slope in the sixth. Freeser singled, Joey O trip-trip-tripled and Jordy knocked him in. Then came the obligatory GIDP, but it's not as stinging when the club is up 4-0. A leadoff double went nowhere for the Friars. Kyle McGrath took the mound and served a calm seventh. Dusty Coleman homered for the Padres; apparently Gerrit was displeased and plunked the following batter with the next pitch, then got a DP two tosses later. Jose Torres was torched for another Cutch dinger and left two Pirates on in the eighth. The Bucs added on in the ninth with a J-Bell pinch hit tater and another *ho hum* Cutch blast. Felipe came on and gave up a slap single before closing out another game.

When the big dogs get off the porch, the Bucs can be tough. Cole Train went seven strong, Cutch homered three times (and was walked in his other two appearances) so all is well today. Too bad they couldn't break out their A game more often on this trip, especially considering the string of ERA-challenged guys they faced. Next up: will anyone change addresses in the next 24 hours before the deadline?

Who da man? (photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates)

Notes:

Andrew had three taters and two walks; Joey O and Jordy each had a pair of raps.

Cutch did it. His seventh straight 20-homer season (he has 22 this year) as a Bucco is topped only by Willie Stargell, who had 13.

Per the Pirates: "Bucco infielder Josh Harrison left with left lower leg discomfort. Status is day to day."

Ex-Bucco Steve Pearce had quite the week; he hit a pair of walk-off grand slams for Toronto. He's the third player to have two walk-off grannies in a single season and the first to do it in a week's span.

More congrats: Adrian Beltre doubled up the 3B line off Wade Miley to become the 31st player in MLB history to join the 3,000-hit club.

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